Iíve just bought a new bed, hoping Iíd get out of the terrible stiffness/backaches every night with some brand new mattress and all. It worked great the first nightÖ and the second.

But the third night, I was back to waking up at night and finding it impossible to move thanks to a painfully stiff back. Great, I thought, I bought a new bed all for nothing. Then, I threw the cat out over night and it was heavenly.

The problem is Ė I like Rocky (note: I did not name this cat!) in my bed and itís big enough for the two of us, too. After that ngiht he spent the morning being pissed at me. The night before he spent scratching on the door and jumping on the door handle. I know that itís not like he will ever stop jumping on the door handle eventually (He tries the kitchen door every day, several times, and never gets tired of it). Iíve tried spraying him with water and locking him up in the bathroom, but the only thing I have ever gotten into this cat is that he needs to sit down before he gets his food.

The problem is not him being noisy at night in my bed, but his chosen sleeping places between my legs, on my legs, right next to my legs and on my chest. I simply donít move at night and therefore get a stiff back, I think.

I found this link, but itís not really going to help me when Rocky sneaks up on me when I am deeply asleep and I awake three hours later, unable to turn without the help of my arms. Apparently it is possible to get your cats to sleep in the bed but not on you Ė it appears the previous owner of my friend has managed to ensure that her cats only sleep on the same bed, but not on the human.

Does anyone have any experience with training their cats to sleep less inconveniently? I am not sure how to go about this other than repeatedly removing him. This will work until I am asleep enough to be unable to do so and he'll do as he pleases.

Try getting a couple of toys or blankets and put them on the other side of the bed and put the cat ther before you go to sleep and pet it untill it looks relaxed then try and you try to sleep and see if it works hope that hurts :D

Additional suggestion regarding the teddy-bear fabric: Tuck it up under your shirt for a day (pick a weekend, obviously), or sleep on top of it for a night, so that your scent gets all over it. Making it 'bed shaped' or even just 'vee-shaped' might also appeal to his apparent fondness of being hemmed in by your legs.

I have also gotten a cat to sleep 'with' rather than 'on' me by simply wrapping myself around the cat, like it is a mobile stuffed animal. This is definitely dependent on the temperament of your cat, however.

It was quite a disaster last night with the teddy fur, but in unexpected ways. My OTHER cat, Lili, who never sleeps in the bed took over the fur, which resulted in multiple cat fight scenes every time Rocky tried to get on the bed. Eventually, he took over the fur just to keep her from doing it and I thought "well, that works, too"... until Lili had settled down to sleep somewhere else and Rocky abandoned the teddy fur and approached my legs.

I removed him and got hissed at and he ran away, which technically was fine with me... except that he came back and we repeated this dance a couple of times. He eventually gave up on my legs and chest and I'm not even certain he was in the bed at all, but he spent the morning (around 4.00am) staccato-mewling his frustration. (Mew-mew-mew-mew-mew-mew-mew-mew--- "SHUT THE HECK UP!" ... meeeooow...) and the rest of the morning pissed and moody. ~_~